


Wait

by carolion



Category: American Idol RPF
Genre: First Kiss, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-09
Updated: 2012-12-09
Packaged: 2017-11-20 16:47:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/587573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carolion/pseuds/carolion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>David and Archie are always waiting for each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wait

"Will you wait for me?"

Archie's face is mostly calm, but Dave can see the anxiety manifest itself in the tightness in his mouth and in the corners of his eyes. Archie licks his lips, but doesn't repeat himself, apparently forcing himself to wait for Dave's answer. 

Sometimes Dave forgets that he's only seventeen, he's so good at self-restraint, so much better than Dave was at it when _he_ was seventeen. They are nothing alike, however, that he knows for sure. 

It's hard to see Archie like this though, laid open and vulnerable. He knows how much courage it must have taken the boy to come to him with honest words and admit the huge crush he'd been harboring through Idol, and through the tour. Dave didn't want to tell him that he'd known, he'd known from the last few weeks on Idol when they were spending so much time together. It had been impossible to ignore, the way Archie's eyes had lit up, how he ducked his head too quickly to avoid direct eye contact, and how he always lingered in their hugs, rather than yanking away as he always did from the touch of another person. 

Dave would be lying if he said he wasn't fond of Archie. But he's seventeen - _seventeen_ \- and it's not just eight years that separate them. It's religion and God and family and life and experience and school and if it weren't for this stupid karaoke show they'd both tried out for, neither of them would have given the other a second chance if they'd passed each other on the street. But Dave only tells him it's because Archie is seventeen, that he can't do anything about it because it's illegal, and it feels wrong, and to be patient, and he'll get over it eventually (complete with a self-deprecating smile that he's sure will make Archie laugh, but it doesn't). 

Archie only looks at him earnestly and touches his wrist lightly - as intimate a touch as he'll allow himself, Dave guesses - and says, "Will you wait for me?" 

He doesn't know what to fucking _say_ because even in six months it'll still be wrong, despite being 'legal' and Dave doesn't want to tempt himself. But as he looks at Archie's face, ridiculously beautiful and innocent and open, he can't bear to tell him 'no.' 

"I will," he promises solemnly. He's playing with fire, hoping upon hopes that Archie's crush will have dissipated in the time between now and then, and that he won't have to break Archie's heart by going back on his word. "I will wait for you."

Archie's smile is radiant, and Dave almost forgets why he doesn't want this.

\--

"I can't," Dave says. His head aches. His heart aches. He's been swallowing his hurt and putting on a brave face but he's weary and he's emotional and he just - can't. 

"Archie," he sighs, trying to be kind because it isn't Archie's fault at all, even if the boy looks a little hurt. He stares at him now - his hair a little longer, his face a little less round. His skin glows and his mouth is just as tempting as it had been during last summer, only now it wouldn't be so bad to reach out and taste it. 

His grief stops him though. He feels too broken and too raw to even think like that, because it would feel too much like using Archie to comfort himself, when really he just needs to be alone to heal himself. 

Archie seems to understand though, because he smiles sadly and nods. He doesn't touch Dave, but his body sways instinctively near, and then away, offering himself as a pillar of support and then realizing that Dave won't touch him. 

"Alright," Archie murmurs, looking down at his shoes. He sounds so demure and so patient that Dave can't stand it. "I understand." 

He turns to leave, but it's Dave who grabs him by the wrist to stop him, his fingers tight and unrelenting. Archie doesn't turn, but he stops, and Dave can feel the tension in his body - the hope.

"Will you wait for me?" Dave asks, his throat dry. It might be too much to ask of Archie, and it might be selfish of him to ask, but he wants to try, he wants to see if it could work. Archie's crush hadn't faded and his own lust hadn't flagged, and maybe this thing between them was made of more permanent stuff than he had originally suspected. 

Maybe they weren't just two people thrown together. Maybe they could last. 

Archie does turn then, and his face is kind and understanding. He touches the hand curled around his wrist gently, laying his palm against the back of Dave's hand comfortingly. 

"I will," he promises gently, and Dave knows he will. 

\--

Archie seems so much older now, an entire year later. Dave hadn't meant for so much time to pass, but it had happened and they couldn't reverse time. He can't help staring though, and Archie gives him a funny look, half-embarrassed and half-confused, like he doesn't know why Dave would find him so different, but still modest enough to blush at the attention. But he is different. The baby fat that had made Archie look so childish had almost completely vanished, and his eyes had lost much of the wide-eyed surprise that had always seemed present back in the Idol days.

Of course, Dave chastises himself, this is a different Archie. One who has toured the world and cut two records, on his way to a third. He looks tired and world-weary, Dave thinks to himself, wondering if show-business has beaten the innocence out of him and feeling a pang of sorrow. Yet it had been inevitable. 

"Cook," Archie greets him, smiling. His eyes still crinkle in the corners, and his smile is genuine and bright, just as always. No one calls him Cook that much anymore, Dave reflects, grinning back automatically. Then again, not too many people call Archie 'Archie' anymore either. They've both changed - just not for each other. 

Dave wants to pull him close, wants to kiss him and feel him shudder. If anything, time has only made him long for Archie far more than he'd ever wanted him before. Now that Archie has lost the boyish innocence and become a little sharper, a little more jaded, he's nearly irresistible. Dave watches him hungrily, the casual, graceful motions of his arms as he gestures with his hands during a story, and the way his cotton t-shirt pulls tight across his chest. It's revealing, and Archie must know how it looks. He used to favor baggy shirts and pants, always covering up his body as if he was ashamed of it, but it seems that habit has changed as well. He's not a skinny teenager any more. 

Dave wants to know if Archie's crush still lingers on - he hopes it has, but it's been a year, and Archie's met so many people now. There's still a part of him that thinks it was only close quarters that inspired the affection, and that with time this thing built between them would be dashed away by the cruel reality - _they are nothing alike_. A relationship - even friendship - would probably seem out of place and stilted in a couple of years. 

He tests it a little later into the night, letting his hand that had been gently resting between Archie's shoulder blades, steering him in the right direction, slide down to the small of his back, a caress that left little to the imagination, but wasn't so bold to spook Archie. He just wants to know, yes or no, so Dave leaves his hand there questioningly.

Archie isn't stupid. He turns to him and twines his fingers in the hem of Dave's shirt, long since untucked. He looks tired again, Dave notes, and his heart begins to sink.

"I wish -" Archie begins wistfully, and then shakes his head. "I've got meetings. In the morning. About my album. I just need to sleep. And I can't focus on anything. I feel -" 

Dave watches him swallow, and realizes how stressed Archie seems, how tense and how unsettled he is. He berates himself for not noticing earlier, but he had been too busy admiring the man that Archie had grown into instead. 

"I feel trapped," Archie admits. And he's saying so much with one word. He feels pressured. He feels worried. He feels distracted. Dave knows when to back off, even if it's not his fault. 

"You'll wait, won't you?" 

The familiar words bring a smile to his face, even if it is a little disjointed and out of place. Archie smiles with him, not real amusement but exasperation being the driving force that curves his lips up. He nods, willing. What else is he to do but wait? 

\--

It's a whole fucking year later before they meet again. This time, they're both different, almost strangers to each other. 

Archie regards him a little suspiciously, like the months and months of silence were personal. There's a new shade of mistrust in his eyes that Dave never thought he'd see in David Archuleta. 

"I think we've both waited long enough," Archie says coolly, and Dave's not sure why this makes him angry, but it does even though it's true. They have both waited long enough, and there still isn't time for either of them, and they'll probably die alone and lonely and angry, too stubborn and too stupid to stop waiting and make time for each other, always waiting for 'the right time' - which Dave now knows doesn't exist. 

"We have," he agrees, but it's with a heavy heart. This is the end of their game, he thinks, feeling sad and angry. It didn't even have a chance to get off the ground. There wasn't the possibility to _try_ -

Archie grabs his face and leans up to kiss him fiercely. Dave can taste his anger too, and his fear, and his resolve, and he's surprised enough to just do nothing for three seconds before he cradles Archie's head in his palms and kisses back just as hungrily. Their mouths spark against each other and Dave knows this thing is going to last a little longer.

There will be no more waiting, and they have all the time in the world now.


End file.
